Gilbert Stafford retires after 31 years
“My children were nurtured within the context of the seminary. The students, faculty, and staff were able to see them grow up,” says Dr. Gilbert Stafford, professor of theology and director of the Doctor of Ministry program, who announced his retirement after 31 years of service. Stafford’s lifelong relationship with AU and the SOT signifies the influence the institution has had on his life and family. Now at 68, Stafford leaves his teaching position with no intention of severing any ties.
As the son of a Church of God minister, Stafford’s decision to enroll at Anderson College in 1956 was a “natural” decision for him. Stafford says, “[Anderson College] provided the context for what I was to do with my life. It helped me to clarify my values and commitments. It provided me with a network of lifelong friends, and it was where I met my wife.”
After graduating from Anderson in 1961 with a degree in sociology and Christian education, he went on to pursue seminary for two years in Anderson and graduated from Andover Newton Theological School in Newton, Mass., in 1964. Stafford went on to receive his doctorate in theology at Boston University in 1973.
In 1976, Stafford was hired as a professor in the seminary. Since then Stafford has also served as associate dean, dean of the chapel, professor of Christian theology, and the director of the Doctorate of Ministries program. Stafford says, “I hope that I have been able to be a pastor/scholar here, a scholar but also a pastor who has a pastoral love for students and pastoral concern for the life of the church. That has been my goal, to be a scholar and a pastor.”
“He was the best professor I have ever had,” says John Frame, who received his Master of Divinity at the seminary. “He has great skill to teach very passionately. He is very pastoral, he is concerned with students and how we are doing in our lives. Dr. Stafford is one of the greatest influences I have had in my life.”
Stafford has thoroughly enjoyed his interaction with students. “There is nothing more fulfilling than teaching a seminary class and to sense that something significant is going on in the lives of people who are in the classroom,” he says. “Seeing people rethink priorities and come to an understanding of the Christian faith and enter into new levels of commitment to the Lord and to the Church, that is the greatest joy.”
In his retirement, Stafford plans to continue working on developing the Doctorate of Ministries program and continue to write. He also hopes to travel with his wife as well. He notes, “I would like to take my wife to Jerusalem and Sidney, Australia. She would like to take me to New Mexico.”
Stafford and his wife, Darlene, have four married children and two twin grandchildren.
A Legacy of Diversity
“Let the good Lord lead me into exciting adventures,” Dr. Walter Froese, 68, says about his life after retirement. Froese retired after 28 years of service in the seminary as professor of church history and library liaison. Froese was born in Germany, where he experienced the effects of World War II as a child. In 1951, his family immigrated to Canada, where he currently remains a citizen. In western Canada, Froese grew up in the Church of God. He received his B.A. at the University of British Columbia and his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Chicago. Froese studied and taught for three years in Germany at a “gymnasium,” which was “for students who want to go into the academic profession.”
Froese returned with his wife Gerda and his two daughters to Canada, where he taught at the Alberta Bible Institute, now Gardner College. He was invited to teach church history at the Anderson seminary by former dean Barry Callen in 1980.
“My life until 1980 was academic and experiential preparation,” Froese says. Froese brought diversity to the seminary with his European heritage and experience. “The seminary students, generally, appreciated it very much,” he says.
Froese passed on his love for history to his students. “History is very natural to me, and I appreciate seeing students react to [history],” says Froese. He describes that through learning church history “we are vicariously living in another time, and we are shaped by the people of that time.”
One of Froese’s fondest memories at the seminary is an experience he had with a student who came to the seminary with an attitude that no one could teach him much. When Froese had the student again toward the end of the student’s seminary experience, the student had changed. The student expressed to Froese that the seminary taught him that he had a lot to learn and through his experience, he realized the excitement of learning. During a sermon Froese gave in a seminary chapel he said, “This student had come to understand an important truth, namely, that it is not a tragedy to realize one’s ignorance and poverty, but that it is a blessing to know one’s deficiencies and the way out of such a dilemma.”
Yet, Froese is quick to admit his own deficiencies. He says, “If you only say good things, you aren’t telling the whole truth. I have irritated some students.” In retirement Froese plans to continue teaching a church history class at the seminary and write a book on the Church of God in Eastern Europe.
Watching Students Succeed
In her 35 years of working in special education, Rinda Vogelgesang says she can count on one hand the number of days she didn’t feel like coming into work. But now she is ready to retire, ready to take time to enjoy her three grandchildren, travel with her husband, Don, and spend what time she can with her aging mother.
For the last 20 years of her career, Vogelgesang has been at Anderson University helping to create opportunities for students with disabilities. “We started the program for students with learning disabilities at AU in 1987. We began with six students,” she remembers. She also worked with the Alpha program and taught some classes in the education department. Then her role expanded to work with students who had any kind of disability. And the longer she was here, the more kids came.
“The program has grown over the years because, I think, all students with disabilities have more opportunities today than they used to,” she explains. Vogelgesang remembers the days when disabled children didn’t even attend elementary or high school, let alone college. They were simply kept at home. But today, more and more of these children are in schools. They’ve become part of the population. “And a lot of these kids are willing to take that risk of leaving their comfort zone and start a whole new situation in college.”
Vogelgesang believes the AU program in particular has grown because AU “has a fine reputation for working with kids with special needs, especially those kids with learning disabilities.”
Before she came to AU, Vogelgesang worked to set up special education programs in public elementary and high schools. Teachers would often come to her and say, “They don’t belong in my class. They don’t belong in school. Let somebody else take care of them.” But she was met with a different approach at AU. “I’ve had people who have asked good questions and people who have come to me with legitimate concerns,” she says. “But I’ve never had anybody here say to me that these kids don’t belong here or that they couldn’t possibly change their way of teaching to accommodate them.”
For her part, Rinda has worked hard to maintain not only the integrity of the program but also the integrity of the university. “I’m proud of the fact that we have worked hard to maintain credibility from this office. It has been important to me that we not give kids greater breaks than they deserved and that we have not compromised their learning.”
Her greatest joy has been becoming attached to the students who have walked into her office and watching them succeed after they leave AU. “They’re doing all the same things with their lives that everybody else is doing, and a lot of that is because Anderson University gave them a shot. Anderson University was willing to take a chance on these kids. A lot of doors that would have been closed for them, we were able to open for them. How can you say that is not your greatest joy?”
